Today is Open Link Night at the d’Verse Poetics Pub. This means we submit a poem of our own choice of form, subject, etc. without following a prompt. Come join us today – add a poem of your own or read submissions by extremely talented folks. It has been brutally hot and so, optimist that I am, I am looking forward to cool weather and snow. My poem today reflects my love of snow – anytime, anywhere. http://dversepoets.com/2015/07/23/open-link-152

January at the Beach
January – alone at the beach.
Gone are the self-conscious preening teens,
The children like raucous birds, their waists
Encircled with neon colored plastic swimming tubes.
Gone the sun worshippers – glistening with oil
And inviting skin cancer and admirers with equal aplomb,
Vendors wheeling carts of ice cream, cold sodas, beer –
The wave splashers and wave riders and wave surfers –
All of them gone.

January – alone at the beach.
Just myself and the dull tawny sand,
The gunmetal grey sky above, sea birds wheeling
In the limbo between grey sea and grey sky.
Into the salt air comes a breath of sweet –
I close my eyes and inhale, knowing.
Sitting there alone waiting…
Now the sea birds become silent as they dip into the ocean
For luncheon and even the waves, loud in the silence,
Seem to subdue and grow quiet.

January – alone at the beach,
Sitting on my blanket huddled in my down jacket –
I listen, I think, I inhale and then…
Like an errant feather from a high flying bird
The first snow flake circles downward and
Lands on the shell beside me.
More fall – large at first and then
Smaller and faster falling.
I stand and walk to the edge of the surf
Letting it brush against my boots.
Against the horizon, the snow is more plainly seen.

In the deep cold, the snow feathers coat the shells
Pebbles, seaweed, sand – mostly melting but making
fuzzy outlines on the forgotten artifacts
castoff from the abandoned ocean.
I hold my face up to the sky and laugh and stick out my
Tongue to taste the snow.
Snow falling and disappearing in the ocean,
Snow falling and slowly melting on my coat.
I haven’t spoken to anyone in several days.
The ocean, empty sand, birds, discarded shells
Are more than enough company.
I hold out my hand and snowflakes fall on my glove.
They stay long enough for me to fall in love
With each and every one before they disappear.
January – alone at the beach.

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The ocean is definitely more than enough company. I have been to the beach several times in the winter, and it is very meditative. The waves reset my rhythm for life. Now, I wont be getting int he water most likely. Ha. Not without a wetsuit at least. I have never been there when it snowed at the beach though. That might trip me out a bit.

My husband gives me, for my Christmas gift, a two week stay at the ocean in January. It is bliss. I never go when it is too hot. My hybrid Samurai/Geisha/Vampire skin burns too quickly, y’know. and there are all these danged people there – blocking the view, making noise….I’ll wake up at 2 in the morning and go down on the beach and just breathe in the solitude…listen to the waves and just…be.

My wife is cousin to silkies, I tell you, a Texas lass that just cannot get enough beach time. Like X said, we breathe the negative ions, we dance to the lapping waves, my wife wades out to her waist in the waves even in winter. We, like you, avoid the glut, the plethora of Spring/Summer & haunt the WA beaches in Fall & Winter, & yes, I have crunched on icy sand, & tongue kissed the flakes as snow joined the gray chilly party.

The Atlantic is a cold and fiercesome creature in winter with icy waters and wicked undertow. Only the bravest of a few wet suited surfers risk being in the water. I love the water but don’T care to get in it. A few laps over my feet or wade to my knees in a creek…that’s it. I’m happy staying on the icy sand and being still and kissing snow flakes. My husband happily stays home. The stretch off the coast of NC I love the best is called the Graveyard of the Atlantic for good reason. But it is silent, magnificent, and wildly beautiful.

“Alone at the Beach” is the very place I would like to be more than anyplace in the world. This poem has great imagery
“The gunmetal grey sky above, sea birds wheeling
In the limbo between grey sea and grey sky.
Into the salt air comes a breath of sweet –
I close my eyes and inhale, knowing.”
Love it!

Once again you have made me, an ardent snow-disliker (I won’t say hater, that’s too strong), begin to reconsider and think that I could maybe love snow. Maybe. Or at least like it a little. But not speaking to anyone for several days? That would not be okay with me. Peace, Linda

They are kind in their listening. I stand and saw away and they clack and caw back at me. They probably wonder about how the parents of a small white haired child allowed her to wander around alone. I’m a shortie and from their height in the sky, I probably look even smaller. My husband used to worry about me and then several years ago, realized I was safe and he pitied anyone that tried to mess with me. Sword and violin both go with me.

This poem makes me think of Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s “A Gift from the Sea” for some reason. I have never experienced the beach in winter. I am sure it would be a totally different kind of experience. It would be neat to watch snow disappearing into the ocean!

Thank you for the kind words. My reader has been acting wonky and i don’t see it there. Could you send me the link so I can read? WP did and update and and my reader isn’t behaving….likes not sticking, comments not posting….I’vehad other folk say the same thing. Bah.

I live right by a beach & I often walk it at random times of the day. Sometimes at night, sometimes in the morning. The sea is constantly changing, & so is the vibe every time you spend time with it. I’ve yet to walk the beach in the snow, I want to though!

Great descriptions of a scene that is obviously dear to you. I saw it all the way through.

Having lived through a 5 week long heatwave (no respite in sight yet), I can begin to appreciate thoughts turning to snow and January. And of course an abandoned, solitary beach is so much more appealing than an overcrowded one, where you can almost smell the bodies roasting!

That is the truth! I look at people, on the beach, basting and slow roasting themselves and shudder. We’ve had heat indexes of of 105 – 108F for several weeks now and outrageous humidity along with frequent storms. I long for peace of winter.

I like snow when the cold is bearable but I believe snow on the beach is not more enjoyable than in a more continental climate. One Christmas, my cousins and I, went for a stroll on the beach; it created a very special memory!

Your descriptive voice here is so full of the love you have for “January–alone at the beach” that I can almost feel the tranquility myself as though I were there, walking the beach in solitude. Really beautifully written.

Yes, they are. I love this alone time. A friend of mine who lived in Chicago used to tell me of his walks along the shore of the lake, in that brutal winter. It was one of many things we had in common.